Tinned Apricot Wine

You will need

• Tinned apricots in juice (not heavy syrup)2 large tins
• Sugar1.0 kg
• Pectic enzymeper dose
• Wine yeast + nutrient1 sachet
• Waterto 4.5 L

Method

1. 1

   Sanitise. A tin of fruit is a perfectly good starting point — it is already soft and clean, which is why it makes such a forgiving beginner wine.

2. 2

   Mash the apricots with their juice, add cooled boiled water and pectic enzyme, then the sugar dissolved warm; top to 4.5 L (reading ~1.085). Pitch woken yeast and nutrient.

3. 3

   Ferment on the pulp a few days, strain into a demijohn, and let it finish under the airlock.

4. 4

   This wine's lesson is RACKING. When fermentation stops, the wine sits on a layer of dead yeast and pulp — the 'lees'. Left too long on it, the wine picks up off-flavours. Racking means quietly siphoning the clear wine off that sludge into a fresh, sanitised demijohn, leaving the sediment behind.

5. 5

   Do it once when the ferment finishes, and again a month later when more has dropped. Each racking leaves the wine cleaner and clearer.

6. 6

   Bottle when bright. A soft, peachy wine from two tins off the shelf.